IT’S GETTING CRAZIER AND CRAZIER ....

Malaysia

Hisham orders probe on Anwar

By Adib Zalkapli

January 28, 2011

Hishammuddin said the probe was not a political issue but a security issue. — File pic

LABIS, Jan 28 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein dismissed today a CNN report that Datuk Seri Najib Razak was responsible for a Saudi Arabia investigation on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, but he ordered an immediate probe into the opposition leader's links with a radical Muslim group.

Hishammuddin said he had ordered the police's counter terrorism unit and the Special Branch to look into the opposition leader's alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, the fundamentalist group alleged by the Saudis to have financed terrorist groups.

"It has got nothing to do with Najib. It is just a CNN report linking him to a terrorist organisation," he told reporters here.

"I have asked the terrorist task force and I have asked the Special Branch, and they are linking up with the Saudi's intelligence to find out to what extent is Anwar Ibrahim linked to this terrorist group," he added.

He said the ministry views the issue seriously as it involves national security.

"This is not a political issue. This is a security issue, like it or not we must take this seriously," he said.

CNN yesterday reported that a secret Saudi intelligence report found no evidence of any Riyadh official funding Anwar, but found a fundamentalist Muslim organisation had benefited al Qaeda through its support of politicians in Muslim countries.

Several bloggers have linked Anwar to the group but the opposition leader said today the issue showed Najib feared Pakatan Rakyat's (PR) political relevance.

The international news network cited a secret investigation which was sparked by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had complained that the Saudis appeared to be funding Anwar in upcoming elections.

CNN claimed that Malaysian authorities suspected two senior Saudi princes of involvement in funding Anwar, and this led to a secret investigation by Riyadh.

Earlier today, Anwar said he would not be surprised if Najib had complained as reported, claiming the latter was becoming anxious over the federal opposition's widely-publicised reform plans — spelt out in its "Buku Jingga" launched last month — which contained instant reform measures to be implemented by PR within the first 100 days of taking over Putrajaya.

CNN reported yesterday that "the investigation found that hundreds of millions of dollars of Saudi money had been funnelled to leading Islamist politicians and political activists overseas. It also found that al Qaeda and the Taliban were still able to use Saudi Arabia for fund-raising, despite numerous measures to choke off those sources of cash."

CNN said the nine-page summary of the secret report states that the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political group present in many Muslim countries, was trying "through its many affiliated charities and organisations — often with the funding of unwitting private Saudi citizens — to spread its influence by providing support for candidates in Islamic democracies."

"Once in power these candidates are expected to further the Brotherhood's goals. Al Qaeda was able to benefit from these secret funding mechanisms, according to the source, because some in the Muslim Brotherhood had 'historic sympathies and connections' with members of the terror group — dating back to when Saudi Arabia and the CIA covertly funded the Afghan mujahideen to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan," CNN reported.

Considered fundamentalist and radical by its critics, the Muslim Brotherhood has a large global following among Muslims.

The Muslim Brotherhood is described as an international Islamist movement and the largest political organisation in many Arab countries. It is the world's oldest and largest Islamic political group. Whether it has ties with terrorism is a matter of dispute.

The Muslim Brotherhood has also been accused by Cairo of being behind planned street demonstrations today against President Hosni Mubarak.